The Foleys
by nerd girl nithagria
Summary: The Foley family is the force behind the criminal world, nothing happens there that they don't authorize and control. A Foley descendent controls each of the major criminal powerhouses, Hydra, AIM. KJ is the prize child, set to inherit her father's position as the head of the "company" one day, but KJ believes that her family has grown greedy, and sets off to make things right.
1. Chapter 1

K.J. sat in the rooftop garden, going through her usual early morning meditation ritual. It had become part of her usual routine years ago. Say what you might about her, but she firmly believed that taking the time at the start and end of each day to review one's thoughts and organize one's mind. She heard the automatic doors slide open and she opened one eye.

"K.J." Her oldest brother, Tievel stood over her, hands clasped behind his back, superior expression on his face.

K.J. rolled her shoulders. She and Tievel held an unsteady alliance. She liked him more than her five other brothers, but that didn't mean she trusted him or necessarily enjoyed being in his presence. They were both in a fight for their father, Argo's, favor and future control of the family company. It was nothing personal, just…business.

She looked up at her brother with narrowed eyes, a glare thinly veiled. "Tievel."

He smirked and held out a slender-fingered hand. Pianist's hands, it was a trait they both shared, inherited from their late mother, Agace. "Walk with me."

K.J. stood up, ignoring her brother's proffered courtesy. She believe that social conventions were a ridiculous waste of time. Why throw so much effort kissing up to people when you really didn't care what they thought of you and they didn't care what you thought of them, or, better yet, already knew that you looked down on them and that feeling would never change.

She strolled slowly at Tievel's side around the large area, it was really almost the size of a small park. Below them, the bustling streets of Manhattan, the noises of the lives of people they were so far removed from, they were as good as foreigners, went on, the sound of their passage muted by the height that the siblings found themselves at.

"It's been a while since we talked like this." Tievel's voice was a deep, rich tone. Had he been a singer, he would have ranked an easy baritone.

K.J. looked at him sidelong. "We're not really talking, are we?"

He laughed, but it was, as always, humorless. He, much like K.J., didn't exercise a sense of humor similar to that of everyone else in the world. They were highly functioning sociopaths; the regular emotions of the world were alien ideas to them. She studied her brother. They were both favored their father, long, slim bodies with dark hair, although Argo now went about bald. Same fierce gray-black eyes with all the warmth of an ice field. Same thin-lined, pale mouth against paler skin that barely turned up in a warm-feelinged smile.

"Tell me, sister, what great divinations have you achieved in your morning meditations?"

"Not much, you disturbed me as I thought. I'll have to return to it later."

"I'm sorry to say that you may not have time. Father has called the family together little sister. He wants to discuss monthly planning, or so he says."

"And what do you think is happening?"

"I think he has something big planned. I don't know just what, but something."

K.J. sighed inwardly. Her brother had a very high intelligence, supposedly, but he was nowhere near as smart as she was. She had already determined what her father was planning, had done so within the hour after she had received the announcement this morning when she had woken up, and had passed over the issue. It was nothing important. She wouldn't say that it didn't affect her, as all things that her father did that affected the company in turn affect her, it just didn't really affect her directly. As far as she could determine, it would not change her routine any and life would carry on as it always really had, without terrible consideration of the world that occurred outside of her lab. It was a nice life, the one that K.J. lived in a self-dictated sequester from the immediate going ons around her. Sure, she knew just about everything that happened within the company, but rarely did it call for her immediate concern. People knew perfectly well how to govern themselves; they didn't need her to be strutting the halls like an overgrown peacock, demanding their attention.

Her brother looked at her. "You will be attending, won't you, K.J."

She blinked, slowly, carefully, deliberately, at him. "Of course. What reason would I have to not?"

He smiled a cold, hard smile. "Good, I want you to be there."

So, he was testing the waters, K.J. deducted. He knew exactly what was going on and wanted to know how much she already knew, how much she already anticipated. K.J. knew she and her brother were both openly arrogant in their abilities and achievements, but only Tievel would allow it to get to his head and become vain. He, as with all her other brothers, had fallen into the trap of being a peacock, lured by the idea of having bright, flashy feathers with which to dazzle the plebeians of their world with. K.J. was wiser, she allowed herself to be smaller, an unanticipated power source. People knew of her gifts, but besides when confronted about them, she did not parade herself about within the cloak of their glory. If her brothers were peacocks, then she was a cunning peahen that was bidding it's time to bring them all to their knees before her.

She returned his smile, giving it an equal measure of warmth, and her eyes followed him, observing as a scientist might observe a rat, as he walked away, heading back inside. She rested her palms on the banister of the garden and gazed across the skyline. This was her city, before long, she would hold it in her hands, whether the people knew it or not. The sun had climbed higher in the sky, illuminating the city streets beneath her and the people who rushed on, unaware of the regent-like girl who stood above and watched them with uncaring eyes. Standing there, as she was, she was the very image of the idea, despite her purple hoody, her messy ponytail, and the violet streak in her ebony hair. The stiff pride was still in her back, the greater-than-thou tilt to her chin, the determined set of her mouth, the perfect grace in the curve of her arms. She closed her eyes, breathing in deeply, taking in the rising morning. Yes, this was a good day. A great day, an excellent day. A day where power was taken and dreams dashed, and she, as she always expected, came out on top.


	2. Chapter 2

Behind her, the doors slid open again. K.J. let out a soft hiss that copied the sound of their operation. She sensed someone walk up behind her without opening her eyes or turning around. She had been taught from an early age to always be aware of her surroundings and to be able to absorb every minute detail about what was happening around her in an instant.

"Hello, Love. I hope I'm not disturbing you."

She turned around, a conniving smile on her face. She looked dangerous, and all the more worthy of the position and occupation her family held.

"Gene," She said. Gene was the adopted son of the Mandarin, the one formidable power her family did not control. His mother, like hers, had died when he was young. He was of Asian descent and it showed, think black hair, almond shaped eyes that tilted up at the corners, a tall, slim body with slimmer fingers; artisan fingers, meant to pick locks, or hold a brush, or play an instrument. He was all sharp angles, high slanted cheekbones, and a lean frame. He was beautifully delicate, like a shard of glass, but just as dangerous, if not more so, and just as likely to cut quickly and cut deep. K.J.'s father had arranged a marriage between the two of them with Gene's adopted father. Both men saw it as an increase and status for their respective children. For Gene, a chance to seize control of their world, for K.J., a chance to increase the power her family already held over it. They were both under orders to manipulate the other into submission, and thus far, those orders had been ignored.

K.J. glided towards him soundlessly, looping her hand through his proffered arm. Strange that no matter how modern their world grew, their more archaic traditions remained. Arranged marriages, and public courting that was strict and unbending. Its rules were akin to those that had existed in the eighteenth century. They may all be criminals, but they were criminals who acted like gentry with a strict honor code and ideals of respectability of their own.

Together, they reentered the building, Gene's arm warm and smooth under her lightly placed fingers, his black cotton t-shirt soft against her arm.

"My father is appointing positions today. We've all come of age, there's no need to delay the selection any farther."

"Do you think he will favor you over Tievel?" Even his voice held a slight mandarin accent in it.

She smiled and it was sharp and cold, reminiscent of a piece of ice. "Teivel is a whiny brat hungry for his own gain. My father knows that I am quieter and wiser, that I command a presence of power and respect when I enter a room that none of my brothers have. I will be better for the position and my father knows this; Teivel acts brashly and lets emotion cloud his judgment while I am patient and reserved. I am the ideal, and my father is no fool."

Gene looked at her with a sad, curious expression, she did not return his gaze, just continued to stare ahead. She was always doing that. She wasn't easily distracted, she was always looking towards her goal, and nothing ever seemed to be able to move her gaze.

"I'm glad for you if it will make you happy."

She stopped, pulling away and turning, for once, to look at him. There was the strangest look on her face, not one that Gene had ever seen there.

"Come with me a moment," She said, her voice clipped. She grabbed his arm and he followed her, startled, into her lab.

"Don't you have to go to the meeting?" He asked. He was confused. K.J. was usually so…detached from her feelings. They were dating, they were engaged after all, but she had never really shown that she loved him or cared what happened to him. She treated him just about the same as she treated everyone else.

She dashed the question away with her hand. "Not for a while and I can afford to be late."

He jumped onto one of the counters; she leaned against another opposite to his own. The room was covered in half completed prototypes on counters like these. In the corner were a couch and a love seat that faced a wide screen TV, the only homey area in the entire area. Huge computer screens were on each of the walls all frozen on home pages that hid what she was actually working on.

She studied him for a moment and he looked at her, feeling slightly uncomfortable.

"What's wrong?"

She sighed, turning her sharp gaze away from him. "I don't agree with what's been happening here. I want to change things, but my father has made our people too greedy. They long for power and grab too much. Dark cannot overcome and destroy the light just as light cannot blaze through the shadowy confines of the dark. There must be balance, Gene. My father once understood this, but since Agace died, he has hungered without thought of what is right. I do not want this, but know that I must take control if we are to have any hope." She turned her eyes back to him. "Do you understand?"

He slid off the counter and reached her in a step. Her hands were crossed against her chest; he slid his hands over her shoulders and down, feeling the lithe muscles even through the heavy fabric of her jacket. She looked up at him, her expression unreadable as he untwined her arms and his hands trailed down to her own.

"Yes," he said, "I think I do." Gently, he pressed his lips to hers. She broke it off after a heartbeat and laid her head on his chest, wrapping her skinny arms around him.

"I love him and I hate him. I love this life and I hate it. Emotions are so…complicated."

He laughed softly. K.J. was usually such and uncaring person, hearing her talk about anything like this was strange and unexpected. The very idea of it in his head was peculiar, but he knew that this whole concept was different for her as well. He brushed his lips against the top of her head.

"I know. So what are you going to do?"

She pulled away, and there was something in her eyes, a weight and a toughness that spoke of her determination and dedication to whatever new task she had set before herself.

"I'm going to fight. I must."


	3. Chapter 3

Tasha typed in her key code to K.J.'s lab and walked in. She prided herself on being one of the few people K.J. trusted enough to allow direct access into her personal space. She scanned the room; it was instinctive. The cluttered lab tables, the large computer screens, the small and untouched living area, and, overlooking it all with dark black glass windows, K.J.'s room.

Tasha's young charge was standing in front of one of the computers, gesturing widely to Gene, who watched with a dubious and mildly concerned expression, but turned around when she heard her caretaker enter. Tasha frowned. She didn't like being left out of K.J.'s plans; it made her feel uneasy, especially when she was passed over in preference to Gene. Tasha, as a rule, didn't trust him, K.J.'s fiancé or not. She knew enough about this world to know that love wouldn't stand in anyone's way when it came to driving a knife into someone's back.

K.J.'s face was blank, serene almost, but then again it always was. K.J. was made for the business, made to be smooth and calm and focused. It was unnerving. "Natasha." She said, in terms of greeting. K.J. never gave a preamble to greetings; she considered it a time waster, especially when the implied feeling was false.

"K.J., you're late. Everyone's waiting for you. Your father sent me to retrieve you."

K.J. smiled. "Yes, I thought I would be." She nodded at her companion. "Gene. I'll speak to you later."

It was an obvious dismissal, and the boy weaved through the tables and out the door. Tasha watched him as he went. She turned back to K.J.

"What were you talking about?"

K.J. stared at her a long moment. "Nothing you should concern yourself with just yet. Don't worry. You'll find out in due time." She smiled, holding out her arm. "Shall we go, Auntie Tash?"

Tasha grinned and allowed herself to be led out the door. "Do you know what your Father is planning?"

K.J.'s tone was matter of fact. "Of course. It would take a fool to not."

Tasha studied the girl. She had known K.J. since she had been pulled part time from her position at Hydra to start taking care of the young child, whose mother had recently died. In all that time, K.J. had remained much the same. True, her choice of attire had changed as she had grown older, but in personality, she was still the same eerily collected elder in a girl's body.

They reached their destination and K.J., as if she was preparing herself for a battle, pulled herself up, straight, strong and tall.

Tasha looked her over. "Shall I wish you luck?"

K.J. shook her head. "There's no need. I know how it will end."

Tasha smiled at K.J.'s confidence in her own abilities, and wondered at it. Many others, the more normal girls of K.J.'s own age, would not have had the same grasp of who they were, but K.J. was generally so cavalier about her own strengths, that to those who didn't know her well, she was terribly arrogant.

Tasha nodded. She felt like she was at a funeral, K.J.'s mood was so stiff.

K.J. pushed open the door with just a press of her hand and walked in. Tasha stared the nondescript entry for a few moments after it had clicked shut without ceremony then walked away. K.J. was on her own now, but Tasha greatly doubted that would make any difference in what happened; K.J. had been living among these wolves and far more intimately than Tasha ever had, and had survived. The small girl would hold them all in their hand by the time night fell.

…

K.J. stepped into the room, hands folded respectfully in front of her. In the center of the room was an oblong table of frosted glass, the chairs were black, the walls a dutiful dark gray. Her father stood at the head. He wasn't an old man, but he was bald, and his eyes held a certain menace in them. Her brothers had assumed their positions around him, her uncles, her family members who ran the offshoots of the criminal hub controlled by her family, stood respectfully behind her father; they were not even offered seats as their power was taken away from them, passed onto their nephews instead of their own children.

With all the grace of a carefully trained dancer, K.J. took her seat, guided by her father's steady gaze. Any weaker of a person would have faltered under such a stare, but she did not, she met it with her own eyes, and he smiled. It wasn't the warm, kind smile of a father who loved his daughter though. This was the smile of a scientist who has gotten an experiment to go just the way he wanted it, and was now marveling at his own handiwork.

K.J. hated that smile as much as she hated the man who owned it.

Argo brought his fingers swiftly to his chin in a movement reminiscent of a musician preparing to play.

He looked around the room, looking at each of his children in turn. "I have brought you together here today to discuss your future positions."

Several of the sons looked at each other, startled, only K.J., Tievel and Alric, the second oldest, didn't. K.J. smirked. What fools they all were.

Her father continued. "Only the best shall carry on our Legacies, and while all of you have shown you are talented, very few have shown true worthiness. Now, you are all of age, ready to resume where those before you have left off."

Ignacy, the fifth child, spoke up. He had been startled before, but he was the sort of person who smoothed over his mistakes quickly and efficiently. Should he fight in a war and find himself loosing, Ignacy was the sort of person who would turn on his allies and cleverly find a way to join the victors. "Yes, Father, that is all very well and good, but we would like to know who would be taking _your_ place." He stood up and gestured to the others. "We care not for these formalities and wordplays. Tell us what we want to know."

Argo smiled and he looked like a deadly shark.

Teivel could barely contain his excitement, K.J. could feel it rolling off of him, even at the distance they held from each other.

Argo laughed. "Calm yourself. You are not worthy of my place, only your sister is."

All Hell broke loose and K.J smiled.


	4. Chapter 4

K.J. walked out of the meeting with a smirk on her face. A few feet behind her, and hurrying quickly from the sound of his pants, came Teivel. He laid a hand on her shoulder, giving the gesture enough pressure to hurt, to try to throw his control over the situation, but not enough to leave any lasting mark.

"K.J." He said, turning her around to face him, "What the hell was that?"

He looked angry, very angry. "You heard father. I'm going to be taking over. Not you." She smirked. "Do you have a problem with that Teivel?"

He glared at her. "I swear to you, you will pay for this. Abdicate, or I swear-"

"Swear what?" K.J. Laughed. "You can't do anything to me. Father's word is Law here, and breaking his will would be treason." She pulled away and started heading back down the hall. Behind her, she sensed, rather than heard, her brother come up behind her. Without hesitating, she pivoted on her right foot, swinging up her left heel to hit him in his nose. Teivel never saw the move coming and went down with a loud thud. K.J. didn't even consider courtesy; she had been raised to press her advantage, even if her opponent was down and groaning. She sent a solid kick to his stomach, then again to his nose, breaking the once rail strait line of it further. Her face was twisted into that of disgust; she didn't care at all about beating up her brother in the hallway besides seeing it as a minor inconvenience. Teivel groaned and she kicked him again, this time in the ribs. She didn't care about lasting marks. Let him be an example for all that saw him to know what it meant to cross her.

He rolled onto his back, blood streaming down his nose and into his mouth, then, much to K.J.'s surprise, started laughing. "Oh, K.J., my little sister, the sweet gem of the family. If Father could see you now, he'd be impressed. I bet he'd give you a gold star. You'd like that K.J.? Wouldn't you. Daddy's little girl. Daddy's little shining star. K.J. Kill-Joy. Oh, how we hate you, how we all hate you." He laughed more. K.J. kicked him the mouth. Her face didn't show it, but deep down, something in her was rattled by the fact that Teivel was right, that her Father _would_ be proud of her, and that that was the last thing she wanted. Maybe, if she knocked out enough teeth, he would stop.

He just continued. "But you don't care. You don't feel anything, for anyone. You don't get it, what it means to love. At least I do, at least I can be human like that. But you don't. You're so stoic and isolated from love you can't be. You don't understand what it means to be human, to love something." He laughed some more, and this time, K.J. stepped down his nose, hard enough that he had to stop giggling and shout in pain.

She crouched down on her knees and looked at him, looked him in his eyes. "I don't need to be human to be better than you. Emotion makes you weak," she glanced across his face pitifully. "Look what pain your jealousy has caused you. I hope it serves to remind you that the only reason I haven't killed you, is because you may yet be useful." She smiled, but there was no warmth in it. "May your crooked nose serve to remind you that the path of obedience in the smoothest route." She stood up, looking down at him with a superior gaze. He stared up at her in rage, he wasn't laughing anymore. She kicked his nose again, and was about to start on her way, when she heard her name called.

"Kill-Joy?"

She turned. "Alric," She replied, face swiped clean of emotion or thought, she gazed at him steadily, chin held at a proud, regal, angle. She knew that he had seen her, she didn't care what he thought about it.

Alric glanced down at his brother. Of all the siblings, he was the most like his mother, soft blond hair framing a delicate face, large, pale, green-blue eyes, and full pink lips. He looked like a prince stepped free of a faery story, people wanted to surround him, protect that endearing innocence that he held. K.J. knew what was beneath though, a genius, that, in the outside world, would have been considered prodigal. He was almost as smart as K.J. and Teivel, but his kindness did him in. He was compassionate with everybody, even K.J., who gave him nothing but the cold shoulder, and Teivel, who treated him as poorly as he could.

Teivel laughed again. "Run away, brother. Run away while you still can." K.J.'s glaze flickered down to him and she kicked him in the groin. He curled up, quiet again. She raised her chin back towards Alric, who was advancing slowly. He looked down at his brother. Teivel's eyes fluttered open and he gazed at Alric for several seconds before Alric, too, kicked him, this time in the spine.

"Serves you right." Alric said, no inflection revealing his thoughts echoing in his voice. Alric turned his gaze back on K.J. "You shouldn't do this in the hallway. Someone might see you."

K.J. shrugged. "Let them see. Let them know what it will mean to question my authority."

Alric smiled wryly. "You knew all along, didn't you? But you kept quiet so that the rest of us would parade about, certain in our abilities. How clever you are Kill-Joy. How very clever indeed."

K.J. smiled. "You never cared though. All you want is your lab, and your books, and to be left alone to your experiments in peace."

Alric nodded. "How well you know me, Little Sister. I think I'll be happy at A.I.M. That's where I've been spending most of my time and efforts anyway."

K.J. nodded. "Of course." The two siblings looked back down at their brother, who now lay flat on his back, staring up at them with contempt that he didn't even try to veil. "I hope you both rot in Hell."

Alric laughed. "Not before you." K.J. smiled. She had always liked Alric, he seemed sweet, but he had a nasty sting; like fire, pretty and dangerous all at the same time. She looked at him.

"I'll be going. See you later, brother."

Alric nodded and K.J. walked away.

How beautifully deadly they were. How beautifully deadly.


	5. Chapter 5

Tasha hit the counter loudly, trying to get K.J.'s attention from where she was upstairs. It was three in the morning and K.J. had texted her telling her it was urgent. Tasha, thus far, didn't think that it was as important as K.J. had said it was. K.J. opened up her door and stepped out, leaning on the railing of the stairs.

Tasha decided not to comment on the fact that K.J. was wearing Gene's shirt.

"K.J., what the hell? It is THREE IN THE MORNING."

K.J laughed, "Cool it, Auntie Tash." Auntie Tash. Of course. K.J. got a little looser in her etiquette the earlier in the morning it got. K.J. turned and looked into the room behind her. "Tasha's here."

A groan emitted from the room and Tasha watched, sighing, as Gene emerged, shirtless, and waved. "Morning Natasha."

"Hello Mr. Khan. How are we today?"

Gene just glared at her and followed K.J. down the steps to the main floor. When she met Tasha's reproachful stare, she shrugged. "We are engaged."

Tasha sighed and leaned against the counter to stare at the computer screen K.J. had flicked on. Gene came and stood next to her, rubbing his eyes as he tried to wake himself up.

"Alright. So. I'm hosting this meeting to discuss a very important project I'm undertaking."

Tasha raised her eyebrows. "Like leading the company and taking out your brothers? I'm more than happy to kill any of them for you."

K.J. looked almost annoyed. "No, I need my brothers, and I'm not running the place. Not until Argo dies. This is," she took a deep breath. "different. As I'm sure you both know by now, there are a lot of aspects about the company that I don't agree with; many people are pressing too much for more total control of the general world." She turned and faced her two person audience. "And I can't allow that. We need Balance. You can't have all of one and obliterate the other. Then the other just comes back stronger than ever. There needs to be some sort of equilibrium, a push and pull that keeps both sides in check."

Tasha's brow scrunched as she tried to understand. "So you're going to talk to your father about this? Explain to him the urgency of keeping balance."

K.J. was shaking her head even before her caretaker had finished and started pacing. "No. That would never work. Of all of them, my father is the most obsessed of taking advantage of our assets and exerting control. Doing that would just get me to lose my newly appointed position and Teivel would take over, which, more than anything, I _cannot_ have. What I have to do," She said, stopping her movement and looked at them. "Is approach this from the other side of things. I completed specs Project Themis earlier today and have called you here to discuss them."

Tasha raised her hand. "What Project Themis?"

K.J. looked at her as if she should have concluded the answer already. Gene leaned over. "Themis is the Greek goddess of justice and embodiment of order. This project will embark on creating such ideals from a non-criminal aspect."

"Actually, she was technically a titian, as a child of Gaia and Ouranus, but you're correct Gene. That is exactly the aim of this project." On the screen behind her appeared the lay-out for a costume and some archaic looking but highly upgraded weapons.

Tasha narrowed her eyes. "You're kidding. You seriously think…you? Be a…" The idea was so ridiculous that she couldn't even complete the thought. Gene looked like he was ready to listen to whatever plan K.J. cooked up. K.J. started pacing again.

"This is the attire and tools that I will be using for Project Themis. I still had the data left over from that special assignment you asked me to do, Auntie Tash, so I've incorporated in a bow and some well upgraded arrows. On top of that, Themis will use an advanced set of knives and short swords."

"Advanced how?"

K.J. waved the question aside. "It's too hard for me to explain. The mask is outfitted with basics; thermal, infared, x-ray, various radiations, air displacement, chemical residue detection, etcetera, as well as a coms unit."

Tasha shook her head. "K.J., tell me your kidding."

K.J. stopped again. "I'm not. This is something I believe I must do, and this is what I need to undertake it. I'm telling you two because I will need your help on the project."

Tasha sputtered. "You're planning on being a…a…"

"Double agent so to speak? Yes."

"But you're going to inherit the position to run the show. You'd basically be fighting against yourself. It makes no sense."

"Actually," Gene said, "It does. K.J. is trying to create balance; she perceives this to be the best way to effectively do so. As both a leader as this company and as one of its opponents, she'd be able to achieve that by targeting one when the other gets even the slightest bit extreme. Too much criminal activity? Activate Project Themis. Too little? Set aside the project and focus energies on the company. It's always going to be a push and pull sort of thing, but here, at least, she'd be able to exercise some control over what's happening." He turned to his fiancé. "It's brilliant."

K.J. beamed. "Isn't it?"

Tasha shook her head. "I still object."

K.J. looked at her in appeal. "Auntie Tash, you do the exact same thing, you just work for S.H.E.I.L.D."

Tasha shook her head. "I don't see how that's the same. You're an armed vigilante if you do this."

K.J. sighed. "I allow you to serve as Black Widow for S.H.I.E.L.D. because it's convenient to me, but neither here nor there you have no push or pull. As the Project Themis agent, I would be able to exercise that sort of control and maintain a balance."

"But there are already plenty of people serving to do just that already."

K.J. frowned. "No, there are people who are striving to create a world full of the two extremes. Think of it this way: I'm trying to get both sides to co-evolve to one another so that neither ever really gains the advantage. It's stabilizing selection."

"I disagree strongly, but I know that I won't be able to stop you."

K.J. grinned. "I knew you would come around eventually. Now, any further questions?"

Gene and Tasha looked at each other then back at the mastermind that stood before them. "No," they said together. "Not one."


	6. Chapter 6

Tasha rested her forehead on the tips of her fingers. Next to her, Gene was suppressing a yawn. K.J. was still lecturing about the assets in the outfit she had designed for herself.

"K.J." Tasha barked.

Her young ward looked up. "What?" Tasha tried to stamp out the feelings of resentment that stirred in her heart at knowing that K.J. was not in the least bit tired. If anything, she was very energetic and very awake.

"As much fun as this is, I think we need to bring this meeting to a close. It is way too early in the morning to be having these sorts of conversations." She bumped Gene, who had fallen asleep, with her elbow. He jolted awake, blinking. Tasha glared at him.

"Yeah. Right. Whatever Natasha said."

K.J. sighed. "Oh, alright. You both can go."

Tasha blinked at K.J. "I think our young Mr. Khan might need his shirt back."

K.J. looked down at herself like if she had forgotten that was what she was wearing. "Huh." She stripped off the shirt and handed it to Gene, who slid it back on with a wry little smile and kissed her.

Tasha coughed loudly before things could start getting out of hand and Gene looked up. "I think it would be best if you left now, Mr. Khan." She raised her eyebrows at him, urging to depart, and he nodded, pecking K.J. on the cheek one last time before weaving his way through the lab tables and out the door.

K.J. stared at her. "You didn't have to do that, you know."

Tasha looked back at the young girl. "Actually, I think I did."

K.J. shrugged. "To each their own. I was just saying he was going to leave when I was finished anyways."

"He certainly didn't look like it."

K.J. didn't respond, face already emotionless as she dismissed the conversation and turned back to the screen. "I know you don't agree, let alone understand, but you must understand; I _have _to do this."

Tasha sighed. "You know what surprised me most when I came here, undercover? You. I had been told that you were all ruthless and uncaring, and I was expecting a set of plotting, evil villains who holed themselves up all day, planning to take over the world. But you? You sat around coming up with the most brilliant of ideas, even though you were still just a little kid, and you didn't even really care. You uncovered my secret in a matter of weeks, probably less, and you let it slide! Despite everything, you were still practically a normal kid; fighting with your brothers, playing with your toys and leaving them everywhere. I saw in you goodness and hope that wasn't in anyone else. I saw that you, of them all, could be merciful. Criminals with honor. I didn't understand that saying until I was able to watch you grow up.

K.J. listened, expressionless and staring at the screen, pretending not to care about what her guardian was saying, but Tasha saw the pulse racing in K.J.'s throat and the tense way she held her proud chin as she struggled to hold her dignity. "You base your opinions, unwisely, on a version of myself that was young and foolish." K.J. turned to Tasha, eyes hard as iron. "I care for nobody. There is as much mercy in me as there may be in a shark. I would kill you with second thought, should I convince myself of the need. I allowed your presence and stayed my hand for selfish reasons; when my father sent you to me, I found you more tolerable than all the others that came before and for no other reason."

Tasha sighed as K.J. turned back to the screen, organizing her data as she moved to lock it down and save it.

"If you won't talk to me about this then, will you at least tell me what's going on with Mr. Khan?"

K.J. shrugged. "There is not much to tell; we have merely taken to sleeping with each other."

"And by sleeping with you mean…"

"Having intercourse? Yes." K.J. said it all with a flat voice, as if she was commenting on some mundane topic such as the news, or midtown traffic.

Tasha closed her eyes and willed herself to be calm. "Is that really necessary, K.J.?" She asked after a few moments.

"I suppose it's not, but we are promised to one another, so I don't see the harm, and neither does he."

"Yes I suppose he wouldn't." Tasha said dryly. "Will you at least tell me how long this has been going on?"

"About a year or so." K.J. glanced at Tasha and frowned. "Don't gape at me like that, Auntie Tash. I hardly see how this concerns you."

"You…you're sixteen!"

K.J. shrugged. "And I am engaged. You cannot treat this as you would with some average girl. The circumstances of the situation are much different. Also, there was a time when it was appropriate for girls as young as twelve to be partaking in such activities. It is necessary."

Tasha shook her head. "In the ten years that I have known you, K.J., I have never once endeavored to understand you, as I don't think I shall ever cease to be amazed by your actions." A thought occurred to her and she paused. "Tell me you use protection, at least."

K.J. looked annoyed, as she often did when Tasha asked a question with an obvious answer. "Naturally. I'm not an idiot, Tasha."

Tasha studied K.J. "Does your father know?"

K.J. pursed her lips and raised her eyebrows as if to suggest that such a thought didn't really concern her. "I'm sure he does, but he doesn't care. Gene and I being together, continuing the dynasty, so to speak, it pleases him. When we go about starting is no matter to him so long as we do; shifting ourselves to fit his dream."

"And what do you think of it?"

"I have no opinion." K.J. looked at Tasha, exasperated. "How many times must I tell you, Auntie Tasha, that I hold no affection for anyone or anything? All of it," she waved her hand, "is meaningless to me. The most I ever feel is irritation towards those of a lesser intelligence."

"But you hate your father," Tasha said softly, arms folded over her chest. "You've never-"

K.J. cut off Tasha's words sharply. "I think, _Natasha_, that it would be best if you left."

She said nothing else and Tasha inhaled deeply before turning to go.


	7. Chapter 7

K.J. cracked her knuckles and headed up to her room, stretching her arms up above her head as she mounted the stairs. She supposed she should be concerned about her insomnia, which had been getting worse lately, but she didn't care. She had stayed up about an hour after Tasha had left; perfecting specs, before she had realized that it was probably high time that she return to bed. She collapsed on the ruffled covers, not even bothering to pull on some pajamas in favor of her jeans and the bra she was wearing. She closed her eyes and let blank exhaustion sweep over her. Over the years she had perfected the art to operate at a high efficiency on as little as she could. She wondered what she would be able to pull off on a full night's sleep. The again, some of her best ideas come in the wee hours of the morning after pulling a marathon session of staying awake.

She opened her eyes and looked over at the Akita dog that lay, panting, on the floor by the wall. It swallowed and looked at her with steady eyes.

She whistled. "Here boy; here Félagi."

He picked himself up off the floor with a whine and jumped onto her bed. Absently, she stroked his back. Her father had given him to her when she was nine, as a birthday present. He said it was because she was loyal, and that everyone should have someone who never wavered. She had grudgingly accepted the animal in life, but over time, had come to see what he had meant. When everyone else abandoned her, she knew that Félagi would stay by her side. She kissed his ears and wrapped an arm around his barrel shaped body. He licked her face, and slowly, she fell asleep.

_She was standing on the edge of a building, her feet were bare and her hair whipped around her face. Everything was gray; the cement below her, the sleek sky-scraper on which she stood, the street and sidewalk below, the sky around her, the same color as the ocean in the winter or a coming storm. Even her skin, when she lifted her arm to look at it, seemed a little drab. It felt like the color had been washed out of everything; like if there was no life besides her. There certainly weren't any people or cars racing hundreds of feet below her. There was no sound, just an eternal field of nothing. She wasn't afraid, just calm, analyzing the situation before her. She wasn't concerned; even know that she was likely to fall off at any moment. Her mother stood next to her. _

"_Hello, darling." Agace said, the slightest of smiles on her face. _

_Agace was fair and tiny. She looked like a porcelain doll. K.J. had always wondered how such an angel of a person could have ended up with such a devil that was her father. She remembered telling Tasha the story when she was little, the story she had made up to explain it. _

'_Once an Angel went to the Market, and she met the Devil in disguise…'_

_She could still hear her little thoughtless voice practically chanting it to the strange crimson headed woman that had come to her one day. _

"_Mother," She said, her voice had no tone. It was like if she was just stating a fact._

_Agace sighed and reached up to brush some of K.J.'s hair out of her face. "Come down from the ledge, Darling. You could hurt yourself."_

_K.J. tore her eyes from her mother's face and looked back at the ground, the side of the building that dropped sharply away at her toes to meet it. She turned back to her mother. "But I won't. I know what I'm doing, Mother."_

_Agace looked so sad; so beautifully sad. Her one hand was still on her daughter's face, she used the other to pull on K.J.'s hand, coaxing her away. "How you've grown, daughter of mine. You're as stubborn as your fathers. Please, Darling. Step _down_."_

_K.J. pulled her hand free of her mother's tiny fingers. "I can't, though." She sucked in a deep breath. The drop was just so dazzling. "It's just so…" She trailed off, enraptured by what she saw._

"_Darling," Her mother said. _

_K.J. wasn't listening, just scooting her toes to the very edges of the ledge. How nice it would feel to fall, to plummet, and feel weightless. How nice the drop would fell, how exhilarating. She would feel the most alive in the moments before her death. That was funny. She giggles. Her mother dropped the hand on her face and tugged on K.J.'s hands with both of hers. She tugged, imploring. _

"_Darling, _please_."_

_And then, when she hit the pavement, she would break. Like a marionette doll tossed away, limbs askew. Like an angle dropped from the earth; beautifully broken. She could picture it, her arms and legs twisted at strange angles, her hair fanned head. It was pretty, she thought, if in a macabre way. She glanced back at her mother, who was looking at her with large, desperate eyes that flicked across K.J.'s face as if looking for something; some sign of caring that K. wouldn't be there. She raised a hand to her daughter's cheek again. _

"_Please, my Darling. You don't have to do this."_

"_Why not, Mother? It's just a dream." She turned her gaze, musingly, back to the drop set before her. "It's just a dream. I can't get hurt in dreams."_

_Agace's eyes flashed and her grip on K.J.'s face tightened as she made her daughter look at her. "How do you know?"_

"_Because, Mother. You died. You died and left me behind." Her eyes wandered away again. "No, this can only be a dream."_

_Her mother raised her other hand to K.J's cheek so that she cradled her face in her hands. There was a fierce determination in her eyes and K.J. realized that her mother wasn't the slender, wimp thing she looked. There was a steady strength in her that K.J. had never seen before, or perhaps she had forgotten that it was there. She wasn't sure. Her breath hitched in her throat and her eyes flicked back to the street. _

"_Darling," her mother said sharply. _

_She looked back at her mother's clear eyes. _

"_I'm sorry, Mother." She said and then she pulled away from her mother's cool grasp and fell. And it was beautiful. _

K.J. woke up in her bed panting and drenched in sweat. Nightmares. Always Nightmares.


	8. Chapter 8

K.J. stared out at the city below her. Dawn was rising and she hadn't slept well since her dream last night. She hated when she dreamed of her mother–it was always so distressing. Agace had died when she was six, putting an end to all her attempts to shield her daughter from the criminal world her husband controlled.

K.J. knew her mother's story: she had researched all files once she had started asking questions that her father wouldn't answer. Her mother was born on February 19th, 1967. She had been raised in Alburg, Vermont. Barely a speck on the map of America and located near the Canadian border; less than 2,000 people lived there. She had lived there her entire life there and had only met Argo on her way to an audition to Julliard when he coned her. K.J. remembered her mother telling her about how she had always wanted to be a balarina, and when K.J. asked if she would ever do it over, Agace had said no, because them she wouldn't have her. The two had eloped and within the year Agace had been pregnant with Teivel, and by that point, she knew about the "company" and it had been too late to escape.

She sighed and rested her elbows on the ledge and gently placed her head in her hands. She was tired of this whole ordeal; having to put up with her family, doing her best to do what she thought was right. It was all so hard, and it was giving her a headache. Someone stepped up next to her.

"Beautiful view," Alric said.

Oh, Lord. Alric was not the one she wanted to put up with right now. True, she liked him, but she didn't trust him. She remembered the look on his face when he had kicked the already bleeding Teivel. He was kind, and as a rule she didn't trust kindness. She didn't know how to deal with it. Her eyes flickered open.

"I suppose."

Alric shook his head. "What is it with you people and underestimating beauty?"

K.J. shrugged. "We're too busy to think about such things. We were raised on the ideals of efficient profit. Beauty is when those ideals are achieved."

Alric blinked and looked at her. "Does artwork mean anything to you besides a price?"

K.J. shrugged. "I don't really think about that stuff. I mean, it's art. It doesn't serve a purpose beyond being."

"And self-expression."

K.J. looked at him. "What?"

He sighed and looked back out at the city. "Just forget it. It was a mom sort of thing, and you obviously didn't inherit those genes, despite all the time she spent with you."

K.J. felt a sudden anger uncoil in her stomach. Who was Alric to judge this? Who was he to say what she had and had not inherited from their mother. She squeezed her eys shut, confused by the onslaught of emotion, which she normal suppressed so well. She swallowed. She couldn't just tell him to go away; that would be weak. She would have to endure him because, after all, this was his way of testing her. They all would be over the next few days and weeks, seeing how well she would hold against their pressure and getting her to wield to their own power.

She sighed and opened her eyes again. The sun's fingers were reaching through the streets and brushing against her eyes. "Yes, I suppose it's all genetic, isn't it?" she said dryly.

He nodded. "Yes, I heard a study about that somewhere. A.I.M. was considering genetic research and I read up on the topic."

She continued, her mind already twisting to throw this back at him. "I mean, mannerisms, ideals; all of it must be inherited, then. In the argument of nature versus nurture," she glanced at him curiously, "I suppose that you would therefore claim there is no nurture, of course."

His jaw tensed as he realized that she was taking this somewhere he didn't want it to go and she practically see the gears in his clever little brain working as he tried to figure the whole thing out. She smiled cruelly.

"How very like Mother you must be then; I mean I'm surprised I never saw it myself before. You look like her, act like her. Why, you're barely Father's son at all, are you?"

He gulped. He realized now, saw the punch line coming. She leaned in close to his face, letting her mouth hang slightly open, like if she had realized something slightly startling. She saw in the way his neck muscles clenched that he repressed a flinch, or a shudder, at the feel of her breath on his face.

"Tell me Alric, are you selling our secrets to S.H.E.I.L.D.? Do you doubt what you're doing? The morals of it? Mother did, you know…" She trailed off and pulled away, turned as if she was planning on walking away and then stopped, looking back over her shoulder. "Such a shame that I had to tell Father isn't it? Such a tragic shame…"

His eyes flashed at her lie; K.J. would never have revealed any misgiving she may have had about her mother as a child to her father. Her mother had been carefully K.J. barely interacted with that man h=and the world he controlled. It was only after she died that K.J. was introduced to the hold thing. Alric fell for it anyways and he swallowed. Besides her, he had been the closest to Agace.

"What did you do, Kill-Joy? What did you do to our mother?"

She threw back her head and laughed. She knew it made her sound a little insane, and she liked that. It just added to the whole effect. "Me? I didn't do anything. Father on the other hand…" she shrugged delicately. "Well, there's no accounting for that sort of thing, is there." She started walking away again. She was done with this, but she could still feel her brother staring after her in horror. "Go ahead and ask him about it if you like. I'm sure he'd love to talk about it after all these years."

She slid through the doors, happily triumphant. It was unfortunate that she had to lie and hold her brothers off like this, but necessary. She had always known that she couldn't trust them, and had so learned, early on, how to manipulate them. Alric feared their father and her casual suggestion that if he had any troubles plaguing him he approach Argo about it had immediately discouraged him.


	9. Chapter 9

K.J. took a bite of Panini and looked over her notes again, making minor adjustments. It wasn't Project Themis; she had set that aside for the moment so she could focus on more mundane work. Her father was planning on coming around today to speak with her about the various assignments he had given her and to talk further on her inheritance. She sighed and flicked through the image on the pad with a stylus. On the towering computer screen in front of her, the correction was made and she sighed, leaning against the counter to examine her work. Truth be told, her heart really wasn't in it today as it usually was. She wouldn't say that she loved what she did, but it did give her a sense of purpose and satisfaction that she otherwise never seemed to achieve. Not today though. She rubbed her eyes, completely spent. She had had another dream last night with a starring role to her mother. She put it down to the increased stress of the past few weeks. A message popped up on her screen.

"Argo Foley is requesting admittance."

Beside it, video feed came forward of a very annoyed looking Argo, shifting back and forth outside her door. Usually, he just bypassed her security using some serious hacking skills, but ever since development of Project Themis really took off, she had increased her general security, the very least of it being a highly advanced firewall. She swiped her finger along her pad to let him in and want back to her work. She wasn't going to drop everything just to have a meeting with her father.

He strutted in, looking very much disgruntled about being locked out. K.J. didn't care. He didn't own her and he had no right to invade on her privacy. That didn't stop him from looking like he did, though. He glanced over the counters where several prototypes were in varying stages of development. They each were, surprisingly, very neat and organized. The different pieces laid out carefully and any no-essential tools hidden away in each of their own places. Tidiness was something Argo deeply valued and had thrummed into his daughter since the moment he had taken over raising her. He locked his eyes on her and moved purposely toward her with an efficient and quick stride. K.J. continued with her work, not even looking up when he came to stand beside her.

He studied the image with a critical gaze, looking for her errors, not caring about what she had done correctly. He rarely complemented her, she knew. He saw it to be more constructive to dig up any errors and demand that his children fix them and learn from them. Making mistakes and being human was never a fallback option. K.J. remembered once when she was seven how he had locked her in a replica S.H.E.I.L.D. high-tech prison cell because she had made a fatal glitch in her plans for a bank robbery. She had been stuck in there for a month. She had gone after him with a lacrosse stick after getting out. She had never made such an error since.

She stopped and looked at the screen as well, waiting for him to pass judgment.

"You forget that the target may easily anticipate an attack here," he said pointing, "and here. Account for it."

K.J. nodded and set to work. Argo continued to ramble.

"Velia,"

K.J. repressed a cringe. He was the only one who used her real name. K.J., Kill-Joy, had been a nickname from Teivel that he had given her when she was little. She still didn't completely understand why he had deemed it fitting at the time, but she had gotten used to it now, even liked it. She liked knowing that she brought down people's happiness with her power. Argo didn't seem to notice.

"I wanted to converse with you today to lay down some ground rules and concerns of the board."

The Board; Argo's various coworkers and current leaders of the various criminal factions. It was almost like a mini Parliament or House of Representatives. They met regularly and discussed what needed to happen. Their criminal world really was like a business; just one that was about the size of a normal country, but with more world power.

"And they are?" She asked, starting to apply a new schematic.

'Many fear that you are too young and naïve to carry out such a task. More think that you are flat out not suited for any work in the company at all and should devote your years to continuing the bloodline."

She studied her work for a minute before allowing it to make changes. That was the Board for you, a bunch of sexist pigs, the whole lot of them. She didn't know how many women were actually in their numbers. She made a mental note to find out and get them to side with her.

"I argued as well as I could for your favor. I firmly believe that you are exactly what we need, Velia. You are strong, unhesitating, independent, inventive, and resourceful. You have been the mind behind the majority of our successful endeavors in the last several years and you bring skills and gifts to the table that cast everything in a new light. I believe that under your command, we will go places and achieve dreams the likes of which we never dared before.

K.J. resisted the urge to raise her eyebrows at his long list of acclaims. It just wasn't Argo's style. She suddenly bent a closer ear to the conversation, wondering where all of this was coming from.

"Velia, your brothers are too single minded on their own goals to understand the bigger picture and all that holding my position means. I have convinced the Board to agree with me, but they are still reluctant." He looked at her as if he was studying her layout for design flaws. "I vouched for you and one slip-up on your part will mean the end of all of this." He gestured around the room and K.J. glanced up, taking it in. She looked at her father.

"I will not fail you, Father."

He smiled and nodded, as if he had expected no less, and put his hand on her shoulder. "I just want you to remember Velia that I am on your side, in everything."

K.J. seriously doubted that, but she didn't say anything. Argo expected her to be as fully devoted to this as he was.

"I know, Father," she said. "I know."


	10. Chapter 10

K.J. closed her eyes and slumped back against the counter after her father had left. Talking to him was always so trying; she always had to fight the urge to punch the man and suppress the side of her that agreed with him a little too much and all the while putting on a face that hid all of her inner thoughts and showed him what he wanted to see. She put down her tablet and rubbed her face with both hands, pushing at the hair that had fallen out of her ponytail. She had purple streaks today and they fell around her fingers in colorful strands.

"K.J.?" She heard Tasha ask hesitantly. She felt her place a hand on her arm. She shivered to think about what Tasha would say if she saw K.J. without the familiar sweatshirt covering the scars beneath as she pulled away and opened her eyes.

"I'm fine," She said, offering no explanation beyond that.

Tasha frowned at her and reached to touch her cheek. Tasha was always trying to touch K.J. when she thought K.J. was being distant. It was had a psychological base, she was pretty sure; connecting with someone physically when you wanted to connect with them emotionally. K.J. had never really understood that and she backed up subtly, but enough that Tasha realized her attempts were in vain and left her alone.

"I met Argo in the hallway," She offered, hoping K.J. would take the conversation from there and fill in some details.

"He wanted to talk to me," K.J. said, jumping up onto the counter so she could sit there and hunched over her tablet, trying to give Tasha the silent message of how much she didn't want to talk right now. Either Tasha didn't notice, or she was just being stubborn. Probably the later, as the two of them had known each other long enough to notice when one of them wasn't in the mood.

"What about?" Tasha asked, coming to stand beside her.

K.J. did her best to not sigh or let her shoulders sag in annoyance. She set aside her tablet momentarily. "The reaction of the Board."

"Oh," Tasha said, nodding.

K.J. picked up her tablet again, hoping that would be enough to close the discussion. Apparently not.

"And what do they think?"

K.J. scowled at her caretaker. "They're angry, obviously. They favored Teivel. They don't think this is a woman's job."

"So what are you going to do?"

K.J. flicked to the computer's home page. Tasha was always picking at things like this and getting under her skin. "I don't know, OK?" She snapped, and cringed a little when she noted the stress that resonated in her response. She was just under so much pressure now. She needed time to think, not vexatious chatter that only made her nerves all the more strained.

Tasha raised her eyebrows. "I think, perhaps, that it might be best if you got out of here for a few days." She said quietly.

Now K.J. let her shoulders fall. The game was up and Tasha had won. It was always a push and pull like this between them; Tasha was always trying to coax out a reaction and K.J. was always trying to present a solid face and pretend that she didn't have one. It was hard, pretending that you didn't care when you really did.

Tasha slid her arm around K.J.'s shoulders in some distantly maternal gesture. K.J. leaned into it. As much as she hated to admit it, she wanted someone to comfort her right now and to tell her that it would be alright. She wasn't sure she was going to be able to pull this off, and that terrified her.

"I Know, Sweetie." Tasha said, kissing K.J.'s hairline. "I know, but hey," She gave K.J.'s shoulders a little sideways rock. "We can't give up now, can we? Eh?"

K.J. smiled wanly and shook her head, pulling away. "I suppose not," She said and was shocked by how close to tears her voice sounded. She bit her lip and looked away, doing her best to get a grip on her raging emotions. Her feelings had been running amuck lately and it confused her. She was used to being able to sort them into nice, neat boxes in her brain.

Tasha turned the corners of her mouth up sympathetically. "Come now, you look hungry. How about I make you some lunch? Then we can talk about all of this, yeah?"

K.J. nodded and slid off the counter and followed Tasha over to the little kitchenette that was behind the living space. She pulled up a chair and sat on it backwards, resting her arms and chin on the laddered back of it.

"Do you want me to call Gene over?" Tasha asked, pulling out a pan and some bread.

K.J. shrugged. "Why not?"

Tasha nodded and sent a quick text, then turned to K.J., hand on her hip. "All righty, Kid. What do you want?"

K.J. shrugged again. "I dunno. Whatever you're willing to make, I guess."

"Is fried cheese an option?" Gene called from the doorway.

Tasha widened her eyes at his sudden appearance. "Well you do come quickly when she's involved, don't you?"

Gene made a noncommittal noise as he walked over to join them. "Hello, Love," He said, giving K.J. a quick peck on the cheek.

Tasha rolled her eyes, but turned back to the counter. "Alright," She said. "Grilled cheese it is."

Gene sat down next to K.J. and she leaned her head against his shoulder. It wasn't that she wasn't affectionate; it's just that she didn't feel like being affectionate all the time. She was tired enough right now though to let her walls crumble a bit.

"So, K.J." Tasha said, buttering the pan and getting the first sandwich ready to cook in its greasy goodness. "Are you totally opposed to visiting your grandparents for a week or so while you gather forces and prepare your attack?"

K.J. considered this. Agace had moved her parents out to an elegant estate in upstate New York once she discovered the extent of the allowance that Argo gave her. K.J. visited them every now and then, rejoicing in the cool comfort of the blissfully ignorant care.

"That sounds nice," she admitted.

Tasha nodded, as if she had expected that. "OK then, I'll get you all set to go then." She dumped the first sandwich on a plate and handed it to her. "In the meantime, you enjoy this, OK?" K.J. smiled and nodded, happy to relax now.


	11. Chapter 11

K.J. sat in the small grove overlooking the lake. Everything seemed purer here, designed more for comfort and less for efficiency, unlike the building her family inhabited back in the city. This was a good place to slow down and just think. Think about what she was doing, where she wanted to go with whatever plans she was cooking up. It was a tactical measure; retreat, gather forces, and come back screaming. And naturally, her grandmother's cooking made any extra time here worthwhile. She had been here a week, and she was enjoying herself immensely. She heard her grandmother call her from the house, and K.J. left her post under the shade of a willow to head to the house.

The mansion sized home sat on a hill on a large, private piece of property. The backyard sloped through the gardens and down to the lake and the property was flanked on either side by a dense forest, which was then surrounded by a tall cement wall. The front drive, K.J. knew, wound through the thick band where those two arms of trees came together to hold hands before being released into a wide stretch of grass below the imposing stone house. All in all, the place reminded K.J. a little of the estate in the movie her grandmother so adored watching with her, _The Sound of Music_, if with a few twists.

She trudged up the steps and nodded at her grandfather. She kissed his cheek. "Hello Pépé. Where's Mamie?"

The old man patted her hand affectionately. "In the kitchen I think. Your lunch should be ready by now."

"Thank you, Pépé!" She called over her shoulder, pulling open the back door to the kitchen. Her grandmother stood frowning, hands on her hips, as she watched one of the maids pick some broken glace up off the floor. The young girl glanced at K.J. with wide eyes when she had finished, then left as quickly as she could.

Mamie hruphed and sat down at the small table in the corner of the room and K.J. sat down across from her, starting to pick at the croque madame she had found on the counter waiting for her.

"Good help is just too find these days, Cherie," Mamie said, picking up one of the strawberries that had been placed on the plate next to the sandwich.

K.J. smiled ruefully. "Oh, I'm sure Mamie, but you and Pépé seem to manage all right."

Mamie hruphed at that too. Mamie, K.J. had noted, tended to do a lot of hrumphing, as if nothing was just quite good enough for her liking. The only things that tended to make her happy were the grandchildren that tolerated her, like K.J. and Alric. "We manage just fine, thanks to that sweet mother of yours, God bless her soul. Tell me, how's your father these days? He never talks to us."

K.J. shrugged. Mamie thought that Argo was some rich corporate executive, which, in a lot of ways, he was, it was just that he didn't work in an actual big name corporation. "Oh, he's all right. The profit had been higher this quarter, yatta yatta yatta, he's expanding horizons, making business deals that will increase productivity."

Mamie studied K.J. for a moment. "I always did think he let himself get too caught up in that job. Not enough time with you kids, in my opinion. A father needs to watch his little ones, or else one day they're going to be as hard as stone. Children need to know love, Cherie. Children need to see their parents."

K.J. nodded in sympathetic agreement. She could see where her grandmother was coming from, but she also knew that Mamie didn't have enough information on her life to decently pass judgment. Argo's life was the company, and he expected, above all else, for his children to follow in his footsteps. To do that, they needed to be as cold-hearted and as calculating as he was. What was more, if he kept them at arms' length, none of them would be able to manage an assignation attempt on him easily. Aloofness credited him with a deity-like status that he held on a short leash because it earned him respect, and respect wouldn't be achieved by being affectionate with children.

Mamie reached over and grabbed one of the grapes that had been piled around K.J.'s sandwich. "I wish I could've been there for you more, after your mother died, Cherie."

K.J. started to protest, but she waved her away. "Oh, yes I know that you had that lady—what's her name again? Talia? To watch over you, but Cherie, I'm telling you it's just not the same. There's a bond between blood that allows for an affection that just can't be found elsewhere."

K.J. kept her face blank, but inside, she scoffed at that. How silly was Mamie? K.J. knew that Tasha cared for her very deeply, loved her perhaps, even. Tasha had taken on a maternal role for K.J., looking after her and trying to understand her when everyone else saw he as just a pretty face hiding an even deadlier mind, and for that K.J. would always secretly be thankful. She and Tasha held that so called "blood bond" far more than she and her own father did.

Mamie's giant black schnauzer ran up to the table and put its paws in K.J.'s lap.

"Hello Basile," Mamie crooned.

Basile reached for the grapes on K.J.'s plate, but she pushed it away. Something told her Mamie wouldn't approve of her giving her dog food that could kill him. Mamie reached over and gave him dog treat, which he gobbled up instantly, before turning to K.J., prodding her with his nose for more. Mamie

"Such a good dog, Basile. Basile my king." She kissed him on the nose and he woofed happily before jumping down and curling up in a ball at their feet. K.J. looked at him curiously.

"It feels like the last time I was here, he was smaller."

Mamie looked at her sadly.

Suddenly, K.J. ached to be back at home. She wanted to get to work on Project Themis. She wanted to start doing some good with her life, not just profit and heists and planning. There was work to be done, and work begot direction and a steady schedule. Order. Discipline. Both ideals that K.J. valued highly. She missed Félagi, looking at Basile now, and, as reluctantly as she cared to admit it, she missed Tasha and Gene. She distantly wondered if they missed her too.


End file.
